It looks like nothing will come easily for Syracuse this year.

Facing Binghamton in only the Bearcats’ fifth year of existence, the Orange expected this week’s match to act as a tuneup for its grueling upcoming schedule. The result was not what No. 12 Syracuse had in mind, as it struggled to a 16-10 victory in the Carrier Dome on Saturday afternoon in front of 3,227 fans.

Defenseman Kyle Guadagnolo forecasted before this weekend’s contest that Syracuse would give its most impressive performance of the season against Binghamton. After the victory, Guadagnolo admitted the way SU played was not what he wanted.

‘I think we just needed to settle down and not really go out and pressure them,’ Guadagnolo said. ‘We were just creating penalties for them and allowing them to get in a man-up situation. We need to stay out of that.’

Other than an 11-4 defeat of winless Marist on March 10, Binghamton had not scored more than five goals in a game all season. Four of the goals in Saturday’s game came off man-up opportunities for the Bearcats. Penalties coupled with Syracuse’s 26 turnovers allowed BU to stay in the game much longer than most could have imagined.

If not for a controversial call in the last quarter, BU might have had a chance to pull off the unthinkable upset.

Down 10-8, Binghamton looked to have closed the gap to one goal with 10 minutes remaining when a shot bounced past Coluccini and fluttered around the goal line. No goal was called. Coluccini scooped up the ball and cleared it, while BU celebrated the apparent point.

In the subsequent SU possession, the Orange finished off a two-point swing that ultimately represented the dagger for the Bearcats.

On the ensuing transition, midfielder Steve Brooks slung a cross-field pass to Dan Hardy. A Bearcat defender attempted to intercept the pitch. The pass ricocheted off the defender’s stick and into the net, giving Brooks his fourth goal of the game and signaling the end of Binghamton’s comeback. The goal started a 4-0 run as the Orange pulled out a sloppy victory against a team that came into the game clearly overmatched.

‘We knew they were going to come out here and play hard,’ Brooks said. ‘And we knew we just had to play quality offense.’

SU head coach John Desko described the game as ‘streaky.’ Predictably, in any such contest, there were bright spots for Syracuse. Brooks maintained his hot hand with his four goals, which was matched by Kenny Nims, whose four goals represented a career high. Midfielder Jon Jerome won his first 14 faceoffs.

Still after each spurt the Orange’s offense had, the Bearcats kept clawing back.

The Orange opened the game with two goals in the opening minute. Binghamton answered soon after, and midway through the second quarter BU knotted the game at four goals apiece.

Syracuse finished the half with three-straight goals, but another BU scoring stretch in the fourth quarter prevented SU from putting Binghamton away until Brooks’ goal off of the deflection.

‘I thought Binghamton played very hard,’ Desko said. They have a lot of Central New York players that are – to sort of speak – back home. They’re back here in the Carrier Dome. They came to play.’

Despite not getting the results it wanted, the Orange seemed satisfied that at least the offense looked to have moved back on track. The 16 goals were the most points SU had tallied all season.

The players expressed disappointment that its unpredictable play kept the team from making a statement against Binghamton, yet the players stated as long as the offense keeps clicking, SU will be a tough opponent to take down. With future games against No. 10 Loyola, No. 1 Cornell and No. 5 Albany, the team knows a consistent attack remains the key to success.

‘We found the back of the net, which is key for us,’ Brooks said. ‘We got to start putting up double-digit goals. We just got to keep working on it.’

Published on March 25, 2007 at 12:00 pm